* Posts by Dick Emery

841 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Feb 2008

Page:

O2 and Be Broadband speeds dip

Dick Emery
Stop

BT network?

I am on LLU with Be and have not noticed any speed drops. I can get a solid 1.2 MegaBYTES (Not bits) per second download on a 11.5Mbit sync at any time of the day (Dependent on who I connect to of course and if they can provide fast enough upload speed to me).

I can only assume this slowdown is for those on the 8Mbit BT Non-LLU exchanges and not the 'up to 24Mbit' LLU connections.

AMD cuts to the core with 'Bulldozer' Opterons

Dick Emery
Thumb Down

BOOORIIIIING!

Seriously. Why have you made this top story?

Honeynet research lifts the lid on spam trends

Dick Emery

Spam a fact of life

It's an unfortunate side effect of internet usage but spam will be with us always. Even if you could kill one source another will rear it's ugly head soon enough. All you can hope to do is contain it using spam filters. Much like P2P it's a hydra that keeps regenerating. There is much too much revenue available to spammers for it to ever be stopped. I am not even sure taxing emails would prevent it since most spam comes from unsecured computers and not from the spammers themselves.

Canon Powershot S90

Dick Emery
Stop

@Dick Emery - Slight correction.

I of course meant tripod mount for the adapter tube available from fleabay as opposed to hot shoe (It has none) as I previously posted.

Dick Emery
Alert

OK here we go.

I have read the review and taken onboard what you have said. It's true that this is not an 'all bases covered' compact camera. It has it's strengths as well as it's weakneses. I believe it's strengths far outweigh any weakneses IMHO.

Some of it's weaknesses can be addressed by third party addons. I feel Canon really missed a trick with the ergonomics.

A third party grip made from machine grade aluminium can be purchased at...

http://www.kleptography.com/rf/#camera_s90

This simple stick on grip does wonders for ergonomics with the shutter finger naturualy falling into the correct position and thumb iinto the groove at the back. It also prevents you from hitting the rear wheel as often and allows you to get a sturdier grip on the camera. You can even hold it one handed with not too much fear of it slipping out of your hand. Highly recommended.

If you require the use of filters Lensmate now provide a stick on adapter allowing the use of 37mm filters.

http://www.lensmateonline.com/newsite/S90.html

Or on fleabay they do a S90 adapter tube that attaches to the hotshoe (Search for 'Canon S90 adapter').

Also get a spare battery. It is a no brainer.

As for cases it depends on preference. I just use an iPoo sock derivative and slide it in my pocket. Less bulk and protects it somewhat.

I never use the flash. I find it a waste of time and would only ever use it in emergencies. I turn it off by default and never use fully auto mode. If I need proper flash lighting I will use an optically triggered external flash handheld and set the internal flash to low.

BTW you forgot to mention that the included hand strap is complete crap. It's far too big and has no slider on it to make it more secure on your wrist. Dump it and use a third party wrist strap or use a neck strap like I do.

You also get exposure bracketing for HDR/Exposure blending. Very useful!

If you want to see what this baby can do and discuss further checkout thes following Flickr groups (Soon to be merged hopefully).

http://www.flickr.com/groups/canonpowershot_s90/

http://www.flickr.com/groups/canon_s90/

Sunday night is Geminid night

Dick Emery
Happy

lol

I lolled. The chances of us seeing ANYTHING in the UK sky at night is pretty much ZERO.

I really feel for UK asstrominers (sp).

Headteachers slam 'disproportionate' vetting database

Dick Emery
Stop

Think of the...

...teachers.

Quite.

Google sues alleged work-at-home scammers

Dick Emery
Grenade

Seen it

It's been everywhere especially on torrent sites. Anyone who falls for this deserves what they get though as it's pretty obvious it's a scam.

Freeview HD goes live

Dick Emery
Stop

Blocky picture

Err...guys. With digital it's either on or off. Unlike analog you won't get inteference or degredation in the picture. You might get breakup of the signal if your signal is weak but that would mean the screen would freeze up along with blocking. But that's because the signal has been lost. If he gets a continuous picture and see's blocks that is due to compression artefacts. Usually from too low a bitrate or a bad hardware encoder being used for certain scenes like movement, water (water is a bitch) etc.

It will be more noticeable on large LCD screens (LCD being so sharp tends to show it up more than CRT or plasma).

Cisco and Juniper 'clientless' VPNs expose netizens

Dick Emery
Black Helicopters

Yeah right

and this comes hot on the heels of P2P users saying they are going to switch to VPN's due to all the Anti-Piracy activity.

I smell something fishy.

Pitchfork-wielding mobs encircle smart meters

Dick Emery
Stop

Human error

My guess is that prior meter readings could have been incorrect (Due to meter readers making mistakes) and/or the analog meters were incorrect to begin with. Of course some people probably fiddled with them using the old magnets trick which they now cannot do on these new wizzbang meters.

I had a similar experience when going from a prepaid meter to a standard meter. My bills increased rather a lot and I wish I had stayed with a prepaid meter now.

'World's largest' BitTorrent tracker Mininova kneecapped

Dick Emery
Pirate

Relax

Plenty of alternative sites to choose from. These are just a few.

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/11/26/seven-mininova-and-pirate-bay-alternatives-to-fend-off-p2p-withdrawal/

Dragon Age: Origins game in gay sex scene shock

Dick Emery
Joke

I'm game

Does this require use of two joysticks?

UK jails schizophrenic for refusal to decrypt files

Dick Emery
Big Brother

You have no rights

The entire point of RIPA is to give those in power the ability to stomp all over Joe Q. Public with little fear or any comebacks. The fact that the person who is arrested is not allowed to tell anyone about the circumstances of their being detained. The fact that the right to silence is made out to be an admission of guilt. The fact that a fair trial is practically impossible. All these and more are the police state firmly pressing down it's steel toe capped boot our heads.

RIPA is just one of a number of function creep powers designed specifically for controlling the populace without any regard to so called human rights.

It does not matter if they are mistaken. If you don't cooperate to the fullest you are guilty and will be thrown in jail. Regardless of whether they have any real evidence to support thier accusations.

Your are a number. Your freedom is illusary.

Freeview HD - your questions answered

Dick Emery
FAIL

The most important question is unanswered

You forgot the most important question and answer.

Will it be copy protected as per the cartels requests to OFCOM? Nobody has answered that one yet and with it starting on Dec 2 and hardware already getting ready to ship we need to know. Freesat is not copy protected so why the fuck should Freeview be anyhow?

Also will it be auto switching? That is. Will it switch to HD automagically if it's being broadcast in HD? The one thing that really pisses me off about Freesat HD is that you have to switch channels or press the red button to watch the same shows in HD.

Why???

From what I have read it's to appease those who do not have HD capable TV's yet. But that is a simple solution to fix. Make auto switching an option in the menu.

If I have to keep pressing a fucking red button of changing channels every time to watch something in HD I won't bother. My parents have Freesat HD. Do they bother changing channels or hitting the red button when an HD programme is on? No. Can't be arsed or forget to.

HDTV in the UK is a fucking joke.

Humax Freeview HD set-top box to debut 'early 2010'

Dick Emery
Stop

USB stick please

So I can just record to HD on my PC. Should be cheaper no? Oh! And what happened to the copy protection the cartels were moaning about that is not on Freesat so why it should be on Freeview is anyone's guess.

Droboman expects a 3TB drive from somewhere soon

Dick Emery
IT Angle

2TB limit?

Doesn't XP have a problem with more than 2TB drives (Unless mapped like a RAID on NAS etc)?

BBC publishes Freeview HD timetable

Dick Emery

Cutting it fine...

if they want to add copy protection as being lobbied by the cartels. Bit silly too since Freesat is unprotected.

Hackers in keyless Windows 7 entry

Dick Emery
Stop

Also...

If you are bold enough (Or your machine already is updated) to flash your BIOS with your OEM's latest BIOS firmware then chances are that it's got SLIC 2.1 in it (A means to identify and tie the PC to the OS) and all you need enter is one of the OEM's serial numbers (They only use one per manufacturer) and you are legit as far as MS are concerned. If they were to block the serial then they would have to get every person who purchased that OEM's hardware to get a new valid key. Which is impractical if not impossible to do.

BTW before anyone mentions Lenovo they had their key leaked before they shipped any PC's so it was not a big problem to change their key. If they did at all that is.

Olympus PEN E-P1 Micro Four-Thirds camera

Dick Emery
Thumb Down

If oyu can afford if

Buy a Leica M9.

But anyhow why bother with this size and format? By the time you put lenses on you have taken away the main reason to have one. Compactness and pocketability. Even with the pancake lens it's still a bit of a lump and you are stuck with a fixed focal length.

If you want a quality compact camera that fits easily in your pocket then go for something like a LX3 or S90 (WHich I have just got and adore). Otherwise get a proper DSLR and be done with it.

Police to keep innocents' DNA despite human rights ruling

Dick Emery
Big Brother

Next step

Barcodes on the back of the neck and a chip inserted into your brain to stop all those nasty thought processes.

Firefox flaws make up 44% of all browser bugs?

Dick Emery
Stop

Yawn...

...the problem a lot of the time with FF going tits up is not FF itself but the addons it uses.

Ofcom balks at Beeb's HD DRM dream

Dick Emery
FAIL

Simple answer (as above)

Want BBC HD without DRM? Get Freesat. WTF is going on with this Freeview HD DRM shit? Anyhow as others have mentioned. Maybe it's a good thing. If you cannot view BBC broadcasts because of DRM then you should not have to pay the BBC tax. But you can rest assured that you won't be able to buy a Freeview HD box that excludes the BBC channels because of DRM.

Again the consumer gets shafted on choice (Or lack thereof).

You can either buy it or not.

Vint Cerf: 'Google doesn't know who you are'

Dick Emery

Meh

I thought I was being smart when setting up a Gmail account by providing false details. Turns out they have all my details anyhow as the account is linked with Google checkout (More fool me) which I have used in the past so they have all my details anyhow.

And there is no way to remove it...

Firefox 3.6 beta promises speed injection

Dick Emery

I'd rather

I'd rather that they fix it so Greasemonkey works again. I had to roll back to an earlier build. Ah well that's alpha/beta software for you.

Transparent OLEDs demoed

Dick Emery
Stop

Apart from heads up displays...

...what is the point? I certainly don't want to look at the wall behind the TV or PC/laptop display.

Firefox 3.5.4 fixes critical memory flaws

Dick Emery
Grenade

Meh!

I'm already using Minefield despite being beta (Hey isn't all software in constant beta anyhow what with update after update?). Forced compatability mode and all is working fine. Reason for switching was you can now use a custom chrome profile to disable the annoying blurry images in the previous FF image scaling.

DOJ widens anti-trust optical drive probe

Dick Emery
Coat

Probably but...

...DVD players and rewriters are pretty cheap these days. Now BluRay on the other hand...

Also the price of certain media has remained pretty high. Especially double layer DVD-R's and BD-R.

It's become more economical to store your large media files on hard disks.

Barnes & Noble's ebook reader takes its bow

Dick Emery
FAIL

No search?

Still no text search and annotations? I cannot see it in the specs.

Barnes & Noble whips out Nook e-reader

Dick Emery
Thumb Down

No text search

Still no text search and annotations? Fail.

Swissdisk suffers spectacular cloud snafu

Dick Emery
FAIL

Blackup

Next time we will really truly seriously protect your data because we really truly honestly have a PROPER server from a megalomaniac...err...bigtime bigname super duper ultra resilient company with super duper ultra reslient technology behind us, like. Honest guv. So please stay with us why dontcha? PULLEEEEZE!

UK.gov back to the drawing board on DNA retention

Dick Emery
Thumb Down

You are #6

This government won't be happy until we all have barcodes on our foreheads, and CCTV in every room of the home wired up to their intelligence network.

This country stinks. If I could afford it I would have left already.

Boffins 'write directly to memory' of living brains

Dick Emery
Happy

So...

Where is Keanu Reeves when you need him? Johnny Mnemonic anyone?

Robot nuclear windjammer to sail patio-gas oceans of Titan

Dick Emery
Pint

and

I for one welcome our new cool overlords.

Mines the one in the chiller.

Western Digital WD TV Live

Dick Emery
WTF?

WiFi

So does this take any WiFI dongle or does it require WD's own 'special' ripoff version?

Torrent crackdown pushing pirates towards file hosting

Dick Emery
FAIL

By 2012 it will be 99% reduction

Not because it actually went down. But because it won't be traceable anymore as everyone uses encrypted tunnels etc.

They need to compare actual bandwidth usage against P2P traffic and see if that went down as much too. If not then clearly the goal posts just moved someplace else where they cannot monitor it.

Hypnotist expands breasts, cures irritable bowels

Dick Emery

Actually...

...hynosis can settle IBS. It was shown on a BBC documentary about alternative medicine asking what works and what doesn't. A doctor at one of our university hospital practices it and it has been proven to be useful for some patients.

Of course he is a full qualified hynotist unlike the one in this article.

Web firms seek Royal Mail rivals with GSOH for delivery fling

Dick Emery
Thumb Down

Break it up!

RM should be broken up into regions and forced to compete with itself.

Hotmail phish exposes most common passwords

Dick Emery
Go

One password to rule them all

and one password maker to bind them.

It was mentioned in a previous articles comments but passwordmaker.org seems to be the answer.

Currently changing my passwords to match but only have to remember one password! Plus it's never stored on the computer. Pretty neat. Go read all about it.

www.passwordmaker.org it's free and open source.

US court says software is owned, not licensed

Dick Emery
Thumb Up

Good for him!

Now how does that apply to music and movies? Especially those in the digital domain? Can you sell on your iTunes collection for instance?

I do hope this sets a precedent on all software licensing. I can see this getting up MS nose for one.

Small biz told to sort TV licences for PCs

Dick Emery
Thumb Down

CRAPITA

CAPITA are just another debt collection agency who earn commision from the BBC for every person they manage to nab.

As with ALL debt collection agencies. NEVER let them onto the premises without a valid warrant and police officer attending. As with ALL debt collection agencies do not leave accessible windows or doors ajar. They are allowed to enter premises this way and can return without warrant if they have done so previously.

If anyone comes calling do not entertain them in any way whatsoever. Close the door on them if you already have opened it. They have NO power over you until they get a valid warrant (Unlikely).

Make sure your TV cannot be seen or heard from the street. Some sneaky bastards will try to look through your window, look and listen through the letterbox or look for the telltale signs of flashing lights through the window at night.

It really depends on how how agreesively they pursue it.

I had a few demand letters. I sent the last back months ago stating I was the landlord and the premises were now empty. Not heard anything since.

I plan on getting a new LCD or plasma type TV in the future but I will make damned sure that I pay cash and provide a relatives details (who has a TVL) for warranty reasons.

I refuse to pay a tax for a service that I may or may not watch. ITV, C4, C5, Sky etc are all paid for by advertising and subscription. Why this archaic system is still in place 'by force of law' I do not know. The other broadcasters don't receive any money from the licence fee either. It's not a TV Licence it's a 'BBC' licence and I refuse to be coerced into paying it!

Where is our freedom of choice? To not own a TV? I don't call that choice. You can choose not to subscribe to Sky. They don't come knocking just because you have a Sky box that 'might' be used to recieve their signals.

NASA enlists schoolkids in Moonbase piss-recycler push

Dick Emery
Troll

They need

Stillsuits!

Sha'hulud. Uh!

Samsung GT-M8910 Pixon 12 cameraphone

Dick Emery
FAIL

Megapickles war still going?

FFS any photographer with half a brain knows that megapixels are not what counts to get good photos these days. Witness the drop to 10 megapixels on Canons' newest line of cameras the G11 and S90. A small sensor as used on these small phones/cameras means that adding more pixels means more noise and less light absorption.

Unless oyu are printing photos onto A3 or larger you don't need such high resolutions.

A good 5 meg sensor (Probably less actually) in a camera phone with a decent lens and processing is more than enough.

Stupid megapickle wars and stupid people buying into this crap.

EU to shout at media player makers over noise levels

Dick Emery
Stop

Problem

There are several problems with limiting the volume output. One is that it really depends on the headphones/speakers being used. Some need to be driven harder than others to get a similar percieved volume level. The impedance of some headphones and speakers means you NEED more gain. Also sound quality suffers as a result of limiting volume. People who have external pocket amplifiers know this. It's not just to increase the volume to your ears but the entire dynamics are affected too.

Being a chronic tinnitus sufferer myself with hyperacusis (Google it) and some high frequency hearing loss I recommend a program of education and if people still ignore it then it's at their own risk.

Swedish military bras burst, melt during 'rigorous exercise'

Dick Emery
Joke

Seems like...

...they made a bit of a boob in their choice of undergarments.

Titters.

USB 3.0 slouches towards Bethlehem

Dick Emery
FAIL

Stupid

And yet the only device to really benefit from USB 3 (Hard disks and in particular 3.5" hard disks) are still tied to a heavy and bulky power adapter/brick.

Database containing 1.8m UK postcode locations leaks online

Dick Emery
Stop

Relevant indeed!

Given the current postal strikes and complete LACK of postal services - and in fact poor postal services over the last few years - this is welcome news.

The post service needs a good kick up the arse!

IWF takes 'pragmatic' stance on level one images

Dick Emery
WTF?

WTF!

"However, he points out that prosecutions have succeeded in cases where the evidence fell short of even a level one standard of indecency. He cites a recent case where pictures were taken of children clothed and with parents present. Despite courts accepting that there was no paedophilic intent on the part of the photographer, a guilty verdict was still upheld."

Someone must have details on this case. We need to know what happened and how someone can be charged regardless of no 'paedophilic intent'. What WAS he charged with in the end?

As an amateur photographer I wish to know WTF they are going on about. It's vague shit like this that makes me rage!

Scientology seeks to squash anonymity

Dick Emery
Stop

Well there's the rub

Is Scientology a cult or a religion?

Prove it either way and you have your answer to the problem.

Bank of America demands thumbprint from armless bloke

Dick Emery
WTF?

In b4

'armless jokes.

Page: